Musical polymath Marshall Crenshaw performs

When Marshall Crenshaw first debuted on the musical scene in the late 1970s, critics and fans considered him a “latter-day Buddy Holly.” But even though the Detroit native actually portrayed Holly in the 1987 movie La Bamba, 35 years on, a better description for the 59-year-old would be “latter-day Elvis Costello.”

Like the bespectacled British rock ‘n’ roll polymath, Crenshaw has released scores of excellently eccentric albums. He’s written books and magazine articles celebrating obscure corners of rock history. He’s acted in several theatre productions, films and TV shows; soundtracked countless more; collaborated with scores of far-ranging artists; and fostered a diehard cult following.

Although Crenshaw isn’t quite as well known as Costello, any music fan can agree that he’s done more in the past four decades than most accomplish in their entire lives. As he nears the big 6-0, Crenshaw isn’t slowing down, either. In 2007, he wrote the title track to hilarious rock biopic parody Walk Hard. Since 2011, he’s hosted an audiophile’s dream of a radio show, The Bottomless Pit, on New York station WFUV. And last year, Crenshaw came up with an idea that honors both the past and the future: a vinyl-only new music subscription service created via Internet fundraising site Kickstarter.

Drift chatted with Crenshaw about listening to records, forging his own path, and lucking into golden opportunities.

Drift: Your subscription service idea for releasing new music on vinyl combines the best of technology and nostalgia. Where did the idea come from?

Marshall Crenshaw: I formed it from bits and pieces of other people’s ideas. I read some place that singer/songwriter Sam Phillips was launching a subscription thing for fans, and I thought it sounded pretty interesting. Then I read an interview with Jack White where he was talking about the value of a tangible object, like a physical piece of art, and how that’s a thing to treasure. And I found myself agreeing with him about that. I use digital technology all the time; the convenience of it is undeniable, and I’m onboard with that. But I do think that vinyl sounds particularly great — and better than anything else. I like the way the music feels when it’s coming off of a vinyl record. It just seems like it’s friendlier to your nervous system, where Digital beats up on your ears.

Drift: Why release only a couple of songs at a time on EPs instead of doing one big full-length?

MC: I thought the idea of a steady flow of new stuff might be a cool way to go. It took a while to get it up off the ground, but it’s really done well. The Kickstarter campaign to get the budget was a big success, and now we’re on our second order of records. People really seem to like the idea, and I think the music is great — I’m really happy with the way it’s going.

Drift: It certainly speaks to your career as not only a musician but also a music history buff. Which came first for you?

MC: My dad was actually big influence on me, which isn’t something that too many rock musicians say. He gave me the idea of music as a positive, fun thing. He had a guitar that he never really learned to play, but he was a very high-spirited guy, so he used to beat on it and sing, which made the whole thing appealing to me. He listened to rock ‘n’ roll before they called it rock ‘n’ roll, so that was the dominant music that I heard. I was attracted to that and felt I had a feel for it and an ability to learn, so I got a guitar of my own when I was six and started learning to play it when I was 10. All that other stuff — the acting, the writing articles and books — those were just side trips that happened. I always wanted to play guitar. That was my main thing.

Drift: How old were you when you first started writing songs?

MC: I came to that late. I didn’t have a clear vision about my own music or start developing a body of work until I was about 26 years old. By that time, I’d done a lot of traveling all over the country and got in a touring band out West. We’d play places like Pinedale, Wyoming and Elko, Nevada for two weeks here or one week there. And then I got in [the theatrical production] Beatlemania, which went East and west and all points in between for a while. So I had lots of travel and life experience, and all of a sudden I had this sound in my head and these ideas about my own music, so I started writing. But I was 28 by that time, so it came late in life.

Drift: You were quickly signed to Warner Brothers Records, which released your first five albums between 1982 and 1989. Did that experience chew you up like so many other aspiring rockers of the time period?

MC: I think I came out of it OK. I had a few scratches and bruises but not very many. I had a really supportive A&R person in New York, Karen Berg, with Warner Brothers. So I actually enjoyed my time there, even though there were battles and disappointments. Mostly, I feel like I learned a lot and a lot of fun in between all the anxiety [laughs]. It’s a mixed bag I guess. I really liked it some of the time and really hated it some of the other time.

Drift: All those side trips you mentioned — several books and compilations, writing hit songs for Robert Gordon and Gin Blossoms, soundtracking Walk Hard, acting on “The Adventures of Pete and Pete” and in La Bamba — did they just happen to you. Or were you seeking them out?

MC: No, I never searched out anything. The only thing I searched out in the beginning was a deal to make records. I had a batch of songs that we started playing live in New York City, and within nine or ten months we created a lot of excitement and really blew things up for ourselves. I’m pleased with that because we started at a real grassroots level and just built it up — it was legitimate, you know? But a lot of that other stuff was suggested to me by other people, and I thought, “Yeah, sure, you know?” [laughs] Like the Gin Blossoms thing — Jesse Valenzuela, who’s remained a close friend, sought me out because he liked my records. He said, “Let’s write a song together,” we did, and boom, it was a massive hit.

Drift: Did experiences like that change your own personal songwriting process?

MC: No, I always do it the same way. I’m just trying to find something that strikes a nerve with me. I write to my own taste, and I have instincts that tell me when I’m nailing it or not. I’m just looking for something that gives me a nice buzz.

Drift: Do you have any major career ambitions you’d still like to achieve?

MC: I think this subscription service is going to keep me busy for the next couple of years. I’m planning on having a new EP very four months, so until further notice, this is how I’m going to make records. I also have my radio show on WFUV in New York. I have a good work ethic and really put a lot of thought into that, playing stuff from my personal record collection and getting on air for an hour to run my mouth about all the historical and practical knowledge I have. But people like it — I get a lot of love letters about the show. It streams online at www.WFUV.org, 10:00 p.m. on Saturday nights, if you’re not in New York. So the gigs, the records, and the radio show. That’s my thing.

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Marshall Crenshaw performs on Friday, Jan. 25 at the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall, 1050 A1A North, Ponte Vedra Beach. The show starts at 8 p.m., and The Bottle Rockets will open. Seated tickets are $35 for the first six rows and $30 for all remaining rows. For more info, call 209-0399 or go to www.PVConcertHall.com.